1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a biometric information processing device, a biometric information processing method, and a control program, and relates more particularly to a biometric information processing device, a biometric information processing method, and a control program that estimate calorie expenditure.
2. Description of Related Art
Whether the number of calories absorbed by the body from food and drink (“calorie consumption” or “calorie intake” below) is balanced with the number or calories spent (“calorie expenditure” below) in the course of daily living is extremely important from both the perspective of personal health and preventive medicine.
The development of transportation means in modern society has, however, also tended to reduce daily calorie expenditure.
While calorie intake from food would preferably decline, calorie consumption is actually on the rise, thus disrupting the balance between calorie consumption and calorie expenditure.
This makes it important to actively exercise and increase calorie expenditure, and more and more people have begun to exercise regularly.
Exercising in order to lose or maintain weight is preferably not managed ad hoc by the individual, but according to an exercise schedule that is designed with calorie expenditure in mind.
A common method of calculating calorie expenditure through exercise for weight management is described next.
The technology taught in Japanese Unexamined Patent Appl. Pub. JP-A-S54-160280 defines a correlation curve between heart rate and calorie expenditure, and calculates calorie expenditure based on this curve simultaneously to measuring the heart rate.
The technology taught in Japanese Patent No. 3250622 stores a plurality of heart rate to calorie expenditure correlation curves, selects one of the correlation curves based on input personal data, and calculates calorie expenditure simultaneously to measuring the heart rate.
The technology taught in Japanese Patent No. 3656088 calculates calorie expenditure based on the result of determining if user activity is at the basal metabolism level, that is, whether the user is at rest.
A problem with the technology taught in JP-A-S54-160280 is that because only a single correlation curve is used, the measurements vary greatly due to individual differences when a large number of subjects are tested, and the method is therefore not applicable to multiple subjects.
Compared with the technology taught in JP-A-S54-160280, the technology taught in Japanese Patent No. 3250622 uses multiple correlation curves and can therefore be used with numerous subjects, but storing a large number of correlation curves is difficult and there are therefore practical limits to its use.
The technology taught in Japanese Patent No. 3656088 requires a means of determining if the user is at the basal metabolism level, and this complicates the design and operation.